OK, it wasn't clearly formulated and only in the comments we found out what he was really looking for.

But it's about curly brackets and Python, and Python is a bit ambiguous with curly brackets: They aren't used for marking the start/end of functions/if/for/... but most commonly used as dict/set literals. But in strings they have another meaning. And I remember I was in the same situation as the OP: I just didn't know what is meant and googling "curly brackets python" wasn't very helpful.

I'm not complaining that I've lost reputation when the question was deleted; it's just I put some effort in answering the question because I was in the same situation once.

TLDR: Why was the question deleted rather than marked as duplicate?

While it was unclear what the author was looking for, I think the question was worth asking because of the different meanings of curly brackets in Python. And I couldn't find a question like it.

The duplicate wasn't really a good pick anyway. The question was asking about braces in format strings, but the dupe target was talking about dictionaries. I'm giving no opinion on the deletion, but closing as a duplicate of the one suggested as a target doesn't seem like a good option.
– zondoMay 8 '16 at 2:54

@zondo Actually the question (as far as I remember) wasn't specifically asking about curly brackets in strings. If I recall correctly it was what curly brackets mean in Python and that's a question that had no duplicate (as far as I can see). If the duplication vote was for dictionaries then it was wrong but since he (wanted to ask)/asked about string formatting there are several good ones.
– MSeifertMay 8 '16 at 2:59

You must be remembering what happened before the edit. Here is the current state.
– zondoMay 8 '16 at 3:04

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@zondo Oh, I must have missed that "example". With that it's a clear case of RTFD or LMGTFY. I remember he posted something like this in the comments on another answer but not that he edited his question. I thought he wanted a "general" answer.
– MSeifertMay 8 '16 at 3:07

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With that, would you still want it undeleted?
– usr2564301May 8 '16 at 13:13

That tag bombing... BTW, there are already three results plus Python docs in the 5th place in google results google.com/…. Your question doesn't improve the chances that people will find those questions.
– BraiamMay 8 '16 at 13:54

@RadLexus I don't know if it should be undeleted. That's why I asked. I thought the question was good until we found out that he was asking about something specific that he could've googled. I actually would like my answer undeleted (because I think it was a good one). :-)
– MSeifertMay 8 '16 at 15:51

@Braiam - I didn't see the tags :-D But actually your results all lead to dicts and sets while he asked about curly brackets in general and especially about those in strings. These results don't help there.
– MSeifertMay 8 '16 at 15:52

1 Answer
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More people thought that it was "unclear" rather than a duplicate, and then two of the people that cast a close vote decided to also cast a deletion vote.

I think the frustration being demonstrated with this question was that it seems relatively basic; it's one which anyone would stumble upon the answer given a few minutes of reading on the .format method for strings in Python. It probably didn't need to be deleted immediately since there's nothing actively harmful about a question which wouldn't have made its way to the front page.

What would have been even better would have been to edit the question to clarify that the OP meant curly braces in the context of formatting strings, and ward off the additional wave of down and close voters. If it truly was a dupe, then it could be reasonably be closed as one.

Well but rather basic doesn't mean it deserved deletion. I asked myself this question once (ok, different context because .format wasn't immediatly used on it so I didn't know what to search for) and I think the different meanings of curly brackets are worth an answer. Especially given that they have a totally different meaning in other languages. But thank you for the answer. I wasn't aware that the delete votes were community-based.
– MSeifertMay 8 '16 at 2:11

@MSeifert: I also agree with you that the question shouldn't have been deleted. It was in need of some TLC and some rephrasing but it didn't quite get that.
– MakotoMay 8 '16 at 5:21